Rancher's Covert Christmas. Beth Cornelison

he replied, dipping his chin briefly.

      “You can ride with me,” Michael said, patting the ATV seat behind him, “or you can stay up here with Roy.”

      With another whistle to the dogs, Zane set off to help his brother and Brady head off the wandering cattle. She watched him ride away, a strange twinge in her chest. His command of his horse, his poise in the saddle, his whole confident demeanor struck her as infinitely sexy. He embodied the classic cowboy of American folklore, the rugged masculinity made famous by Madison Avenue advertisements. Her heart kicked, and her breath snagged as he galloped away.

      “Ms. Palmer?”

      She jerked her gaze back to Michael. “Oh, right. I’ll watch from here. I don’t want to be in the way.”

      He touched the brim of his hat in acknowledgment and said something to Roy she didn’t catch as he revved the ATV engine and drove off in the same direction Zane had gone.

      “Can I do anything to help you?” she asked Roy. “I brought gloves.” She pulled out the leather work gloves to show him.

      “Sure. You can hold the posts while I work on the barbed wire.”

      A stiff cold wind blew up across the pasture, and she dug in her coat pocket again for the bright purple knit hat her sister had given her last Christmas. After tugging the hat on, she moved to kneel beside Roy, who worked to wind new wire on the downed posts. The longer she held the posts, the more she doubted the value of her contribution. Roy was clearly humoring the ranch guest. But the simplicity of her task allowed her to follow the action in the pasture. The flow of the men on horseback, the dogs and the ATV, gathering the far-flung cows and guiding them back toward the open section of fence, was mesmerizing. More and more, though, she found herself less observing the process as a whole and more tracking one man in particular. Zane.

      She furrowed her brow when she realized what she was doing. What was her fascination with him? Josh and Brady were every bit as handsome, if happily attached. The other men had been more cheerful, though she couldn’t find fault in Zane’s behavior toward her. She’d witnessed his courtesy and thoughtfulness. Was it the veil of mystery and wariness that surrounded Zane that intrigued her?

      She gave her head a brisk shake. She didn’t need to form any leanings one way or another about any of the McCalls or the ranch staff without further observation and interviews. She’d been on-site less than twenty-four hours, for Pete’s sake! Yet her first impressions had always been a valuable guide in the past. So...what did it mean that she had such a visceral reaction to Zane?

      “Now when they come around that hill with the herd, they’ll drive ’em right up here. Once they’re all inside the fence, you take that post over there—” Roy pointed to the last place the fence was standing “—and I’ll start driving in the new posts.”

      “Got it.” She sniffed the air discreetly, more certain now that she smelled liquor on the man’s breath. Michael had told her, when giving her an overview of the state of the ranch, that Roy had recently done a stint in a rehab center. She didn’t want to stick her nose where it didn’t belong, but she wondered if she should let Michael know she suspected Roy had been drinking.

      “Now when the cows come through, you’ll need to stay way back. You don’t wanna get trampled.”

      Her pulse jumped, and she gave him a nervous laugh. “Uh, no. Certainly not!”

      Roy glanced up from his manipulation of the barbed wire with a pair of long-nosed pliers. “The boys will do their best to steer ’em straight in, but you can never predict when a cow will veer off track.”

      “Thanks for the heads-up.”

      A whoop sounded behind her, and she turned to see Josh headed toward them, the first of the herd charging up the hill.

      “Stand clear!” Roy gave her a gentle push, backing her away from the gap in the fence.

      She scuttled away, her heart racing with the thrill of seeing the beasts beating a path toward her. The ground shook, and the low bleats and moos escalated the din of thundering hooves and the roar of the ATV engine as Michael guided the left flank.

      Erin scanned the terrain, searching for Zane. He and Brady were bringing up the rear with the dogs racing along beside the cattle, tongues lolling. As he neared, Zane cast a glance her way. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

      But instead of returning a grin, his face darkened, and he shouted, “Erin, look out!”

      She jerked her head around in time to see one of the cows at the edge of the herd veering away from the others. The cow was running straight at her.

       Chapter 5

      Adrenaline spiked in Erin’s blood. She stepped back, only to come up against the barbed wire of the fence. Without a moment to second-guess, she whipped off her purple hat and waved it and her arms at the approaching cow as she yelled.

      The cow tossed its head and turned sharply left, seconds before it would have trampled her. Relief left her limp, her knees shaking, and she would have collapsed if not for the strong arms that wrapped around her and pulled her into a hug.